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List Price: $19.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 28524
Released: March 25, 2008 |
| Our Price: $10.50 |
| Used Price: $8.85 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Frank Taylor and people like him have a vision for America. It is a vision shaped by terror and fueled by fear ignorance and hate - a nation of "free white 100-percent Americans!" In his first lead role in a major movie Humphrey Bogart portrays Taylor reuniting with the director of The Petrified Forest for this powerful tale of a white supremacist group. Threats surrounded the making of the film but the studio persisted creating a bold torn-from-the-headlines expose selected as one of 1937's 10 Best Films by the National Board of Review. The movie also fanned controversy for months after its release. "Black Legion will not stay in its place as cinema fiction" The New York Times' Frank Nugent wrote."It strikes too hard too deep and too close to the mark." Year: 1936 Director: Archie Mayo Starring: Humphrey Bogart Dick Foran Erin O'Brien-Moore Special Feature: Original Theatrical Trailer B&w/83 Mins.Running Time: 83 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/CLASSICS UPC: 883929002757 Manufacturer No: 1000035752
Description of Black Legion:
One of Humphrey Bogart's earliest starring vehicles, this 1936 melodrama typifies the Warner Bros. touch in its modest but potent production values and Depression-era social acumen. Prompted by contemporary news reports of new neofascist groups targeting political and religious minorities, the script conjures up a shadowy, Klan-like organization preying on factory workers to set them against blue-collar immigrants. Bogart is Frank Taylor, a hard-working drill-press operator hoping for a promotion that can help him better provide for his adoring wife and cherubic young son. Frank's coworkers reassure him he'll snag the foreman's post, but when a studious young Polish American gets the nod, Frank's bitter disappointment sets the stage for the tragedy that follows.
What proceeds in this 83-minute feature is a pointed morality play about tolerance and democracy. The legion's rank and file invoke a "free, white, and 100 percent American" future in justifying their scare tactics, which hound Frank's rival out of town, briefly gaining him the coveted job. But his deepening involvement in the mob soon drives wife and son away, costs him his job, and ultimately spurs him to murder his best friend, Ed (Dick Foran). Indicted for the murder, Frank is nearly acquitted by a crooked defense team funded by the corrupt businessmen who are bankrolling the legion (more to profit off the sale of robes and revolvers than to incite any real political change), but his climactic, cathartic pang of conscience brings the tale to its moralistic end.
Bogart, who dutifully marched through dozens of features before graduating to true stardom, gives the simplistic story its modest power through a credible performance that traces Frank's descent from streetwise but principled worker to angry, disillusioned thug. The supporting cast also includes Ann Sheridan, likewise fine in an otherwise two-dimensional role as Foran's wife. --Sam Sutherland
Black Legion Reviews:
A Story About Secret Societies 
2008-11-02 - "The names in this drama are all fictitious." But it is based on real crimes. The film begins in a factory where the workers take a meal break. One worker uses a slide rule to educate himself during lunch. The foreman got a promotion, somebody will replace him from the workers. Scenes from domestic life are shown. The Grogan's are well-to-do (they own a telephone). So does Frank Taylor (who dries dishes). Stories on the radio entertain the family. At the factory they choose education over experience. Frank is disappointed, but Joe invented a device that saved money for the company. [Luck favors the well-prepared.] Are immigrants taking jobs from Americans? [It's how the system works.]
Frank's resentment shows at work. Will he "get wise" to himself? A coded question introduces Frank to the secret organization. [Should anyone surrender their judgment to any organization?] Frank buys a revolver to protect his home and family. [He had the right to keep and bear arms.] The Black Legion attacks a family and burns their home and barn; the father and son are put on an outbound train. They attack businesses to benefit the competition. The owners of the Black Legion benefit from the organization, and want more money from more members. Frank's inattention to detail causes the loss of his foreman's job. His replacement is abducted and tortured, then left in the woods. What gang is doing this?
Frank's conscience is bothering him, and causes problems at home. Ruth leaves home with her son. Frank has been fired and turns to drink. He tells Eddie Jackson too much. "What am I going to do?" The Black Legion abducts Eddie, and shoots him when he tries to escape. "I didn't mean it!" The police catch the killer and learn about this organization. Frank is warned by an agent of the organization, they will fix the testimony to free him. Mrs. Danvers testifies as to the cause of the murder: a romantic triangle! It was quite a performance. Frank also tells a good story. But there is a dramatic surprise at the end!
Justice triumphs at the end of this Hollywood movie. Real life is another story. Will Frank sacrifice himself to save his family? Will the secret organization be exposed and rolled-up and sent to prison? Do bad economic times cause such organizations to grow? Political scientists have long noted the how bad times cause increased crimes and violence. The sad truth is that many of the crimes shown in this film were not punished when done by wealthy and powerful corporations. Read the history of the early 20th century form examples.
A Klan robe by any other name would still smell as bad
2008-11-01 - The subject of BLACK LEGION (1937) remains relevant today.
Here, Humphrey Bogart is Frank Taylor, a factory machine operator who has a reasonable expectation that he'll be named the new shop foreman-- he's got the senority and experience. When a man named Dombrowski with less time in than him is chosen, Frank is not only disappointed, but angry. He's approached by a co-worker who suggests he should join a special society of "Americans for America."
The "Black Legion" is very much like the KKK. Surrounded by hooded men in an outdoor night time ceremony, Taylor takes an oath "to the death," then pays his dues and buys the requisite robe and Legion revolver. (Note: this is a very accurate depiction of the Klan in early 20th Century America-- a pyramidal business concern where a major percentage of all dues and monies raised from uniform and equipment sales were distributed to national, state and local chapter leaders.)
First his new associates destroy the Dombroski farm and send the family packing on a train. Later, they commit other atrocities in the name of "Real Americans." Taylor's marriage begins to fall apart. Guilt-stricken by what he's become, Frank wants to withdraw his membership but is refused under penalty of violence. Then, his best friend learns about the several crimes committed by the Black Legion and threatens to go to the police......
Watch for Frank Nelson as the uncredited radio announcer. For 15 years, Nelson was a regular on the Jack Benny Program, playing unctuous salesmen, floorwalkers and the like.
"Black Legion" is also available on DVD
In 1937, Bogart also appeared in the screen adaptation of DEAD END, a stageplay he appeared in with the Dead End Kids. (VHS edition) (DVD edition)
Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.
(6.8) Back Legion (1937) - Humphrey Bogart/Dick Foran/Erin O'Brien-Moore/Ann Sheridan/Helen Flint/Joe Sawyer/Clifford Soubier/Dickie Jones/John Litel (uncredited: Frank Nelson)
Warner's social drama but not very good 
2008-04-26 - In 1937, Warner Brothers continued their crusade on social issues with the release of "Black Legion", a powerful story of fascist vigilantes, clearly based on the Klu Klux Klan.
The films stars Humphrey Bogart as a happily married factory worker who misses a promotion and takes revenge. Bogart works hard to overcome an unsubtle and trite script which draws 2 dimensional characters. The cliched "happy home life" is particularly awful. The young Ann Sheridan appears as the girl next door and she is appealing. Dick Foran is very good as the worker who refuses to join the clan. The vigilante scenes are much more convincing then the domestic ones but more for what they are depicting than due to any imagination in Archie Mayo's journeyman direction.
The print of the DVD is excellent and there is a good commentary shared between 2 relaxed historians. Warners's night at the Movies is included with an entertaining short featuring the band leader Cab Calloway, a highly individual performer with a distinctive unusual singing style. The technicolour short on Stonewall Jackson is poor but 2 future Warner's players appear, Jane Bryan and Wayne Morris. The cartoon features Porky Pig and a goat called Gabby who clearly was scrapped - shrill and aggressive. The DVD is good value as part of the Warner's Gangster Set Volume 3.
Early Bogart film is a depression-era moral tale 
2007-12-24 - 1937's "Black Legion" tells a story of a man's involvement with what amounts to the Klan without coming out and calling it that. Humphrey Bogart stars as Frank Taylor, a working man who loses a bid to become foreman when a foreign-born man gets the job instead. The Legion is right up Taylor's alley, reinforcing his belief that his woes are all the fault of the foreign-born. He gradually gets more immune to the violence as he gets in deeper and deeper with the Black Legion. It really is a very good vehicle for Bogart's acting talent as his morality gradually unwinds. The sermon at the end seems a little tacked on, much like a similar scene in 1933's "Wild Boys of the Road", but it doesn't detract too much from the overall film. The extra features on the DVD shall be:
Special Features:
Theatrical trailer: The Perfect Specimen
Two WB shorts: Hi De Ho and Under Southern Stars
Authentic newsreel
WB short: Porky and Gabby
This film is part of the Warner Gangsters Volume 3 boxed set that is being released on the same day.
Still Potent Story Of Mob Violence Containing One Of Humphrey Bogart's Earliest Starring Performances
2006-02-08 - The 1930's to a large extent were a miserable time career wise for Humphrey Bogart. Ploughing through a seemingly endless line of "B" gangster roles, underworld thugs, and unsavoury killers he seemed doomed never to enjoy the type of success he had in the 1940's with outstanding classics like "The Maltese Falcon", "Casablanca", and "The Treasure of Sierra Madre". However in between the Warner Bros. programmers an occasional little gem did manage to engage Bogie's talents and the still startling "Black Legion", was definately one of them. In became Bogart's first real starring role and he doesn't disappoint with his great performance as an honest factory worker who gets caught up in the deadly plans of a Klan-like organisation bent on purging America's blue collar work force of any foreign elements. Done with the type of raw grit and lack of glamour that Warner Bros. were renowned for it is a highly interesting depression tale that still carries a relevant message even today.
